


with my toes in the sand

by fulmiinata



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Summer Vacation, Surfers, beach au, makoto is the perfect beach bum no one can tell me otherwise, they are so dumb everyone in this story is cute and dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1288201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fulmiinata/pseuds/fulmiinata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you new around here?" the boy's question brought Haru out of his thoughts again. He looked at Haru with soft eyes and an even softer smile while he scooped the treat into a cone. He was tall, much taller than Haru, with hair the color of brown sugar and sun-kissed skin. The rich, peridot green of his eyes was brought out even more by his almost matching tee. </p><p>Haru's fingers itched to draw him, immediately.</p><p>"Um, kind of," replied the dark-haired teen. He took the ice cream being held out to him, the tips of his fingers brushing against the boy's.</p><p>"I'm staying here, for the summer. ...With my grandmother."</p><p>His eyelashes were thick, dark. If he closed his eyes, Haru was sure they would touch his cheekbones. His palms started to sweat, and the blush in his cheeks had yet to go down.</p><p>"That's nice." The boy smiled wider and to Haru it looked like the sun had settled into his expression. "I hope I'll be seeing you around then." </p><p>Haru gulped. "Yeah."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this would never have happened without cottontale. please place all blame on her. 
> 
> i love you, you big dork ♡

Haru lay his head against the window, the rain making plink plink noises as it made contact. He let his eyes drift closed at the sound, soothed. It had been approximately eight hours and fifteen minutes--not that Haru had been counting--since the Nanases left their driveway for Umi no Uneri, a small town along the beach.

In the pocket of his sweatshirt, Haru's phone buzzed. He sighed through his nose and decided to check it later. The coolness of the window had begun to seep into his head and he let it get uncomfortable before relenting and slipping on his hood. He was tired and just wanted some sleep--being in the car since six in the morning did that to people. Of course, if Haru had had his way, he would be in bed right now sleeping the day away, until he eventually got sick of the way his sheets felt and his bed no longer felt nice and comfy, but his mom had other plans.

"Haruka. Haruka, wake up." From the front passenger seat, Hisoka Nanase turned around and offered her son a small smile, angled gray eyes soft. She reached out and gently prodded his cheek, like she often did when he was little.

Disappointed that sleep was now out of reach, Haru peeled his eyes open, taking a glance through the front windshield and seeing a fairly good-sized house, pale blue and trimmed in white, with a large porch made with dark wood. Haru noticed a swing right next to one of the front windows and when he looked up at the second story saw a small balcony in front two French doors.

"It's your grandmother's house, Haruka. You haven't been here since you were a baby," commented his mother, unbuckling her seat belt and tucking a lock of black hair behind her ear. She smiled at him again.

Haru didn't say anything in reply, instead unbuckling his own seat belt and stepping out of the car. He tapped on the trunk twice for his father to open it. While he pulled out his large duffel that was meant to last him the entire summer along with a smaller bag holding his parents clothes just for the night, his father got out of the car as well, stretching out his arms and legs.

"Nice here, isn't it?" he said, looking sideways at Haru. He took a deep breath. "Smells clean, fresh."

Right then, a gust of salty sea air ruffled the fringe across Haru's forehead and tickled at his eyelashes. He liked the sensation--it reminded him a little of home while being completely different at the same time.

Just before joining his parents at the front door, a bright, immaculate white, Haru made sure to go around and retrieve his mom's phone from the front seat. The door made a sound thunk as it swung shut. Lugging his bag over his shoulder while carrying the smaller one in his hand and the phone in the other, he made his way up the sandy wooden steps.

The house had two enormous glass windows that faced the front, but it was impossible to see past the lacy white curtains. Still, Hisoka made an attempt to peek inside. She rapped gently on the window with her knuckles.

"Why don't you just ring the doorbell?" offered Mr. Nanase, motioning towards it with his hand.

Hisoka clicked her tongue, then lightly rested her finger on the doorbell. "It doesn't always ring, Rai," she said, before pressing down. "At least, not when I was younger." From outside, the family heard the bell's pleasant chime ring throughout the house.

A second passed, then two, then three, with no answer. Nervously, Haru's mother began to squeeze at her thumb until it popped, following the same procedure with the rest of her fingers. Once she got to the ring finger of her right hand, the doorknob began to turn and click, the door finally opening.

"You still grow taller every time I see you, Hisoka, unless I'm just getting shorter with my old age." A woman no taller than Haru's friend Nagisa stood in the doorway, with silver hair pulled into a low bun and eyes that crinkled at the corners when she smiled. Her face was pleasant, not particularly memorable, but she said the same small slightly upturned nose that Haru and his mother shared.

"Hello to you too, Mother." Hisoka leaned in for a hug, just barely taller than the older woman.

"And is just me, or does that husband of yours look much younger than you do? Good moisturizer will make the years kinder to you, you know," Haru's grandmother squinted slightly in his direction.

"Actually," spoke up Rai, stepping up to her direct line of sight, "As much as I wish I looked younger than my wife, that's our son you're looking at, Amaya-san."

"No," Amaya's tone was disbelieving. "Little Haru-chan? Oh my, what a handsome young man you've grown into! And to think, I haven't seen you since you were a mere baby!" The old woman reached up and pinched Haru's cheek, softly, carefully, as if he were still an infant.

"Nice to meet you, Obaasan," said Haru, voice sounding hollow. He took note of his grandmother's hands, very smooth for her age and strong. They were a little calloused, no doubt from years of hard work.

"Come on inside, all of you. It's chilly out here with all the gloom," insisted Amaya, ushering the family through the door.

It seemed to Haru that he got his attraction to the color blue from this woman, because that was the first thing he saw upon entering her home. The walls were a rhythm blue color, and the one to his immediate right was covered in pictures, adjacent to the dark wooden staircase. From what he little he could see of the kitchen from the entrance, he could it was all sky blue. Cheerful white trimmed the door frames and windows, drawing more light into the house. Nearly all the windows in sight were large, with white lacy curtains.

"Do you like it, Haru-chan?" asked his grandmother, smiling softly. "I Hope you can get used to all the blue. Your room is upstairs, first door on the left, go on and leave your things then come back down for lunch." She pressed a hand to his back and gently pushed.

"Where are we staying, Mother?" Haru heard his mom say as he lugged his bag up the stairs, slightly winded. The rest of the conversation escaped his hearing, as he got too far up to catch it.

Haru couldn't help but smile to himself a little as he saw that each of the doors (there were four) were a different color. The two on the right side were white and green, the one and the end of the hall, in the center, was light pink, and his on the left was a pale yellow.

His room was larger than he expected, even coming with his own bathroom and two doors that led out to the small balcony he'd seen from outside. White and gray striped wallpaper coated the room, a matching gray comforter laid over the queen-sized bed. Haru dropped his bag on the floor, on top of a fluffy rug at the foot of the bed, and flopped down onto the mattress. It was like floating on a cloud; when he turned on his side and inhaled the scent of clean sheets and gardenia, it made sleep seem all the more appealing.

Before his eyes could droop closed and possibly stay that way, a dresser made from the same dark wood as the staircase caught his gaze. Reluctantly, the teen peeled himself off the bed to unpack his things.

He put away his clothes the same way he had it back home: shirts in top two drawers, pants in the ones right below, with socks and underwear at the very bottom. Haru made sure all the clothes were folded neatly and didn't take up too much space--he'd seen Nagisa's drawers that were nearly ready to burst with balled-up shirts and various other articles. When the last one slid closed, now full of various pairs of mismatching socks and maybe three that did match, Haru turned his attention to the doors of the balcony. If the sun was out, they would most likely let in the warm light, but in the day's cool rain they fogged up slightly. He admired the frosted glass panes, allowing for a basic view of the outside without providing very specific details.

The lock mechanism clicked open before Haru really even thought about what he was doing. He stepped out, fat drops of rain immediately splattering on his face, dripping through his bangs and weighing down his eyelashes. No more than a minute outside and Haru already felt the freshness of the environment permeate itself into his very bones. For a moment, Haru was weightless, clean, free of problems and worries.

Maybe Umi no Uneri really wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Distantly, his mother's voice floated upstairs.

"Haruka! Come downstairs, were going to eat!" she called, so Haru pushed his wet hair off his face and went back inside. Kicking his shoes off and about to head to the kitchen, he spotted his phone on the middle of the bed, still flashing with a new notification.

_1 new Snapchat_

Haru unlocked the phone and checked it. He was greeted with a photo of Nagisa, dressed in a colorful Hawaiian shirt with a flower tucked into his blonde hair and holding a kick board in one hand. Haru was sure that maybe Nagisa had the wrong idea about where he was going for the summer. A black bar right in the center contained his message:

_Have a great summer Haru-chan!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it gets better i promise. i just always have this need of putting up somewhat unnecessary prologues because they bring me comfort. 
> 
> but anyways i hope you liked it and as always, thanks for reading! don't hesitate to leave a comment or kudos ♥︎
> 
> also i believe haru's parents are sweet, well-meaning people you can't convince me of anything else sometimes they just go about things the wrong way is all. (and haru totally looks like his mom)
> 
> will be sporadically updated


	2. Chapter 2

Placing a kiss on Haru's head the next morning, his mother whispered, "Love you," before tiptoeing out and shutting the door quietly behind her.

Slowly, Haru opened his right eye. The bed creaked under his weight as he sat up, throwing the covers off and making his way to the window to look outside. He saw his father sitting in the driver's seat again, wearing his favorite pair of sunglasses against the bright morning sun while tapping his fingers along the dashboard. Hisoka was leaning against the other side of the car talking to his grandmother, probably giving her a few last minute reminders and tips for "taking care of her precious boy." Haru snorted to himself at the thought.

Despite the summer heat that Haru could clearly feel through the glass pane, the inside of the house was a little crisp, leaving goose flesh along his arms. It made of think of his own house, which was always cold. He pulled open a drawer and threw on his oldest purple sweatshirt.

His socked feet made no noise on the wooden hallway floor, except for a slight scratching caused by the small grains of sand found inexplicably throughout the house. He padded down the stairs, taking some time at the bottom to pause and take a look at the pictures on his grandmother's wall. Some of them were old, with creased corners and yellowing edges, of his mom when she was young, most likely younger than Haru at the time, and others were slightly less old, featuring Haru over the course of his childhood.

Sometime after Haru finished looking at the picture of him in the bath and moved on to the one of him dressed as panda, Obaasan walked up to him, expressing surprise at seeing Haru awake already.

"Well, good morning Haru-chan! You sure are up early!" she said, to which Haru nodded. She followed his gaze to her collection of photos, a small smile gracing her lips. "Caught your attention, huh? I started that wall the day I moved into this house, but the pictures have changed over the years."

Pointing to the one in the very center, in sepia, of a young woman about twenty wearing a white dress alongside a handsome man in a tux, she added, "Except for that one. That is the very first picture I put up, of my wedding day."

"You looked very pretty," Haru said, turning back to look at his grandmother. "It's a nice picture."

"What a sweet boy! Now, since you're already up, why don't you come with me to the kitchen for some breakfast?"

Haru's feet started to move on their own when she mentioned something about mackerel.

 

* * *

 

"Now," Obaasan sipped at her tea, bowl now devoid of food, "I know that Umi no Uneri should be very unfamiliar to you, so I thought that perhaps you'd like to come with me while I go grocery shopping. After all, I'm pretty sure an old woman like me doesn't eat quite as much as a strapping teenage boy, right?"

"I don't eat that much," Haru replied. His eyes flicked downward to the half-empty plate before him, as if to prove his point.

Obaasan laughed, and once again Haru found himself slightly amazed at just how much his mom resembled her. Their eyes, although different colors, were still almond-shaped and tilted at an upward angle, with even the same nearly straight eyebrows. Haru was slightly grateful that at least he'd gotten his from his father. Both of them had small mouths, slightly rounded lips, and heart-shaped faces. It made Haru wonder if his mom would look just like Obaasan when she got older. He was also pretty sure that had he been born a girl, he would've looked like her too.

"Even if you don't want to go, which is completely fine, I still need to feed you. I'm just going to go change out of my pajamas and I'll be out of your hair for the day. How does that sound?" Wiping at her pants and picking up the dishes, Obaasan stood up.

To Haru, going shopping with his grandma didn't seem like such a bad idea. She was right--Umi no Uneri was pretty much foreign to him, so he might as well get to know it as soon as he can. It seemed so nice outside, too, so what was the harm? The teenager stood up as well, gently taking the dishes from Obaasan's grasp to put them in the sink himself. He told her he'd be ready soon, after he finished cleaning up.

Back upstairs, Haru combed his hair a couple of times, until those stubborn pieces of his fringe decided to stay down, and brushed his teeth. He decided to take off his sweatshirt and put on a T-shirt instead, since the weather report on his phone predicted high temperatures for the day. He got the one Nagisa had given him for Christmas, a raglan shirt with black sleeves and a cartoon dolphin above his name in the middle. When the blonde had presented it to him, he'd declared proudly that now he and Haru-chan "had matching shirts for twinning," while displaying his own tee, pink-sleeved.

The memory replayed fondly in his mind as he selected a pair of pink jeans that he'd often denied owning but decided that it didn't really matter here since no one knew him. A pair of battered sneakers later, and he was sitting in the living room, on a plush gray couch facing the TV, absentmindedly fiddling with his phone. He's just changed his phone background for the third time when Obaasan came back down.

Clicking a button so he wouldn't have to keep looking at the northern stoplight loosejaw, Haru sat up a little straighter in acknowledgement.

Obaasan, dressed in a pair of crisp jeans and a green blouse, jingled a set of keys at Haru.

"Ready?" she asked, to which Haru nodded.

The automated garage door creaked and thrummed as it seemingly forced itself open, eventually revealing a small blue Honda Civic that had seen better days. When trying to open the passenger door, he struggled a little before Obaasan instructed him to "jiggle the thing until it stops putting up a fight."

At the feeling of being in a car again, the muscles in Haru's rear protested. He bounced his leg a little to alleviate the tension.

"You must be very thrilled to be back in a car so soon, right?" teased his grandmother, one gray eyebrow raised and a smile playing at the corner of her mouth, clearly noticing Haru's discomfort. "As much as I would love to walk into town, my knees don't seem to be as willing."

"No, it's fine." After every comment or reply he made, Haru found himself looking at Obaasan to gauge her reaction. She never seemed worried or maybe even disappointed in his terse replies and so far she had yet to try and coax some more words out of the teenager. It left Haru wondering if maybe she was used to such behavior.

In place of conversation, Haru decided to count how many things she had hanging from her rear view mirror. He counted four air fresheners, each a different shape and scent, although the car lacked any sort of smell, a red and blue tassel reminding Haru of the blue and white one that hung on his graduation cap, a long piece of string holding a silver medallion, and a lei of pink flowers. Memories, Haru thought. With every stretch of uneven terrain the car bounced over they danced, swaying and jumping.

"Are you up for ice cream, Haru-chan?" offered Obaasan a few hours later, after they'd finished with their shopping. She pulled out some sunglasses from the compartment between their seats and slipped them on. "It's a scorcher today."

Haru had been shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand briefly, before remembering the brand new pair in his pocket his grandmother had insisted on purchasing when she'd caught him admiring them in the store. A pair of black wayfarers, with bright blue temples. After putting them on he told Obaasan that ice cream sounded like a good idea.

The shop was right in downtown, nestled between a bookstore and restaurant. The sign was cute, Haru admitted, with it's swirly script and pastel blue coloring. When he walked in immediately a sense of comfort surrounded him.

Stripes must be a recurring theme, the teen thought, as he took in the pink and white wallpaper. The dainty little curtains were also pink and white, although polka-dotted. There were hardwood floors and blue chairs with swirly backs and yellow tables and ukelele music and Haru couldn't really think of a nicer place. He could see himself sitting in the corner, sketchbook laid out on a table with the beginnings of his newest drawing. He hadn't picked up a pencil in a while, not since before he submitted his portfolio to an art school not far from Iwatobi. It would be nice, to get some inspiration back.

"What kind do you want?" Obaasan nudged him, looking at him expectantly.

Haru's head snapped to the display of ice cream before him, a little out of it. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts he didn't even hear the boy asking them which flavor they planned on getting. "Mint chocolate chip," he said after a quick glance.

"Are you new around here?" the boy's question brought Haru out of his thoughts again. He looked at Haru with soft eyes and an even softer smile while he scooped the treat into a cone. He was tall, much taller than Haru, with hair the color of brown sugar and sun-kissed skin. The rich, peridot green of his eyes was brought out even more by his almost matching tee.

Haru's fingers itched to draw him, immediately.

"Um, kind of," replied the dark-haired teen. He took the ice cream being held out to him, the tips of his fingers brushing against the boy's. They're warm, almost abnormally so, and it's almost like their heat transferred itself into Haru's body, pooling in his cheeks. "I-I'm staying h-here," he stopped himself to clear his throat and compose himself because why was he stuttering this was not okay. "I'm staying here, for the summer. ...With my grandmother."

His eyelashes were thick, dark. If he closed his eyes, Haru was sure they would touch his cheekbones. His palms started to sweat, and the blush in his cheeks had yet to go down.

"That's nice." The boy smiled wider and to Haru it looked like the sun had settled into his expression. "I hope I'll be seeing you around then."

Haru gulped. "Yeah."

The boy stretched his hand out over the counter. "I'm Makoto, by the way. And, uh, your ice cream is melting."

Sure enough, there a thin trail of mint chocolate chip on the back Haru's hand, but he slurped it up before it could drip on the floor. He shook Makoto's hand. "Haru."

"Well, it was nice to meet you Haru. Have a nice day," Makoto lifted his head a little, looking over at Obaasan, who was standing by the door. "And to you too, Amaya-san! Enjoy your ice cream!"

Obaasan nodded and said thank you, before telling Haru they had to leave or else the milk in the car would heat up and go bad. They left with a final wave and the tinkling of a little bell over the door announcing their departure.

When they pulled into the driveway back home Obaasan turned off the car, hands now free of ice cream, and turned to Haru with a strange little smile on her lips. She placed her hands on the top of the steering wheel, crossed over each other at the wrists.

"Makoto-kun is a sweet boy, isn't he?"

At the mere mention of his name, Haru felt himself blush again, heart rate speeding up. He crossed his arms. Looking out the window, he muttered, "Sure," to which Obaasan laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lemme just say that angst will not be allowed here nope not one drop
> 
> haru is awkward and blushy while makoto remains his charming self. sorry if they seem out of character at any time, haru being cute is a little hard to write ;A;
> 
> thank you for reading! comments and kudos are always very appreciated, and i hope our day goes swell :)


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